Texas issues no general landscaping license, so the phrase “licensed and insured” carries less weight in Houston than most homeowners assume. There is one major exception, and it’s the most useful filter available: anyone who sells, designs or installs an irrigation system in Texas must hold a state irrigator licence, and doing that work without one is a criminal offence. This page lists landscapers serving Houston and explains what to verify.
What Houston landscapers handle
Maintenance runs close to year-round. Houston’s growing season is long and humid, St. Augustine grass grows aggressively from spring through autumn, and mowing frequency in summer is higher than in most of the country.
Drainage is a bigger share of the work here than almost anywhere. Flat topography, heavy clay and intense rainfall mean water sits where it falls, and correcting that — grading, French drains, dry creeks, downspout routing — is core landscaping work rather than a specialty.
Irrigation design and repair, which is the licensed portion of the trade.
Planting and design in a humid subtropical climate where fungal pressure, not cold, is the main constraint.
Hardscape — patios, outdoor kitchens, pergolas — with shade and mosquito management shaping how usable the result is.
Licensing: what actually exists in Texas
There is no statewide general landscaping contractor licence. Mowing, trimming, planting and basic maintenance require no state licence, which means anyone can start a Houston lawn company tomorrow.
Irrigation is different, and strictly regulated. Under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1903, anyone who sells, designs, consults on, installs, maintains, alters, repairs, services or inspects an irrigation system must hold a licence issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
The licence is not trivial to obtain: a 40-hour basic training course in landscape irrigation, then a six-hour exam requiring at least 70% in each section. A Landscape Irrigator licence is valid for three years. An Irrigation Technician may work under the direct supervision of a licensed Landscape Irrigator, including when connecting a system to the water supply.
The penalties are real. Under §1903.251, unlicensed irrigation work is a Class C misdemeanour, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per day. TCEQ publishes a consumer notice specifically because unlicensed irrigation work is common.
Practically: if a company is quoting you a sprinkler installation, a system repair, or a backflow connection, ask for the TCEQ licence number and verify it. A landscaper without one cannot legally do that work, whatever else they’re good at.
Pesticides are separately regulated — commercial applicators must be licensed through the Texas Department of Agriculture. If a company is treating your lawn for weeds or pests, ask for that credential too.
Insurance carries more weight in Texas precisely because licensing carries less. Confirm general liability and workers’ compensation directly.
What’s specific to Houston
Gumbo clay. Houston sits on heavy clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. Consequences run through every project:
- Drainage is the first design question, not the last. Water doesn’t percolate; it pools and stays.
- Planting holes need care. Dig a smooth-sided hole in wet clay and you’ve made a glazed container roots struggle to leave.
- Soil movement affects hardscape. Patios and walkways on expansive clay need proper base preparation or they move with seasonal wet-dry cycling.
Flooding is a design constraint. Houston floods, and landscape decisions either help or hurt. Grading that moves water away from the foundation, permeable surfaces, rain gardens and adequate drain capacity all matter more here than aesthetics. A landscaper who won’t discuss where water goes during a heavy rain event is not the right hire.
Humidity drives disease, not drought. Houston is roughly USDA zone 9a–9b, with mild winters and long humid summers. Fungal problems — brown patch and take-all root rot in St. Augustine especially — are the dominant lawn issue. That changes best practice: water deeply and infrequently in the morning so foliage dries, and avoid evening irrigation that leaves grass wet overnight.
Watering schedule. Houston operates a two-day-per-week watering schedule citywide, split by address: odd-numbered addresses on Wednesday and Saturday, even-numbered addresses on Thursday and Sunday. It applies citywide and is not optional. Confirm the current stage and any seasonal changes with the city before planning irrigation.
Hurricane and storm exposure. Tree selection and structural pruning matter. Fast-growing, weak-wooded species that shed limbs in high wind are a liability near structures, and mature trees benefit from proper structural pruning rather than the topping that damages them permanently.
Pricing expectations
Houston figures for 2026, as published by local landscaping companies:
- Sod installed, priced by variety — St. Augustine (Palmetto or Raleigh) $2.25–$2.85 per square foot; Bermuda Tifway 419 $2.35–$2.85, Celebration $2.40–$2.95; Zoysia Palisades $2.75–$3.50, Zeon $3.25–$4.00, Emerald $3.25–$4.25. Material only, delivered: St. Augustine $250–$450 a pallet, Bermuda $280–$500
- A mid-range landscape installation runs $3,000–$10,000. Soil amendment $200–$1,500; drainage $1,500–$15,000 depending on run length and where it can outlet
- Irrigation: a system on a typical quarter-acre yard $1,800–$3,800; another local irrigator publishes $1,500–$3,000 for small lawns, $3,000–$6,000 medium and $6,000+ for large areas. Repairs $95 an hour, most completed in one to three hours
- Trees: removal of a standard 30–50 ft tree $1,200–$2,500, or $3,500–$4,500+ where it is large or access is tight; stump grinding $150 to $700+; canopy lifting and trimming $350–$900
- Planting and edging: a 30–45 gallon specimen tree $400–$1,200 installed, a 65+ gallon balled-and-burlapped tree $2,000–$4,000+. Bed edging per linear foot — Benda Board $7–$12, poured concrete $8–$18, stone $12–$35+
- In the Fort Bend suburbs, the North Fort Bend Water Authority rebates 50% of the item cost up to $100 per item, three times a year to a $300 annual maximum, on things like rain sensors and weather-based irrigation controllers — see the caveat below
Houston has a soil problem with a name, and it is the single biggest variable in a quote here. “Black Gumbo” clay is what pushes drainage work from a $1,500 job to a $15,000 one, and it is why the drainage range above is the widest on the page: what matters is how far the run has to go and whether there is anywhere legal to outlet it. Roughly 50 inches of rain a year arrives in bursts, so a garden that drains badly does not drain slowly — it floods. Ask any bidder what happens to the water before you ask what the plants cost. Access matters too: the Heights and Montrose are tight, and the clay gets more severe out toward Crosby and Sugar Land.
The credential check here is unusually easy, because Texas makes the licence number compulsory in the advertising itself. It is against the law to conduct or advertise landscape irrigation services without a Texas landscape irrigator licence, and the number must appear on business cards, flyers, published ads, signs and truck lettering. So if a company advertising sprinkler work has no TCEQ number on its van or its website, that is not an oversight — it is the violation itself. One local irrigator publishes theirs directly on the page; several others quoted for this research do not.
On rebates, be careful what you assume applies to you. The rebate above is not a City of Houston programme — it belongs to the North Fort Bend Water Authority, it reaches only customers of participating retail water providers inside that Fort Bend County authority, and its published terms come from a guidelines document dated 2023. Check your own provider before counting on it. No City of Houston turf-replacement rebate was found in this research, which is not the same as proving none exists — this is a metro of many separate water authorities, and it is worth asking yours directly.
One rule worth knowing before anyone touches a tree near the kerb: the city preserves trees in the public right of way and requires written approval before removing them. The ordinance’s planting requirements otherwise apply to new commercial and multi-family development rather than to a house with a garden.
These are ranges local landscaping companies publish for this metro rather than survey data, so treat them as a bracket to check a quote against, not a price list.
Two contract items: the contractor’s TCEQ irrigator licence number, which Texas law requires them to advertise anyway, and where the drainage will outlet, since that and the run length are what move the price on Black Gumbo clay.
Neighborhoods served
Landscapers listed here work across Houston, including The Heights, Montrose, River Oaks, Memorial, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Midtown, EaDo, Spring Branch, Meyerland, Braeswood, Clear Lake and Kingwood.
Most also serve surrounding communities — Bellaire, West University Place, Pasadena, Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland, Cypress, Missouri City and The Woodlands.
How this directory helps
Every landscaper here is listed with business name, address and phone so you can check them yourself.
Because Texas licenses so little, the verification questions matter more here than in states with a trade licence. Ask for the TCEQ irrigator licence number if any irrigation work is involved — it’s legally required and easy to check. Ask for the TDA applicator licence if they’re spraying anything. And ask where water goes in a heavy rain. In Houston, that last question tells you whether someone understands this city or just mows in it.